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As the restraint array on the floor started to unravel, causing the bindings already on the two advancing knights to fall away, we prepared ourselves for battle while milking every second the arrays restrained and bombarded them.
Eventually, the array on the floor failed, and the two berserk knights dashed out of the way of the wall arrays bombarding them and headed straight for Dad. which meant it was time to use 'that'.
As I charged forward to intercept one of the charging knights, I activated my Primal Aura. The usually translucent blue aura that manifested from my body started turning deep violet. If I had not been covered head to toe in armor, people would have seen the veins throughout my body bulge from just below my skin and turn dark blue.
As I clashed with the knight that had been doing all the defending while the other was disabling the floor array, Dad shouted from behind, "When I said 'that', I meant to use the totems!" as I heard something behind me snap and felt a gush of ambient mana being sucked behind me.
Oh. Well, it's too late now. I had already clashed with the knight, and we had already exchanged more than ten rapid blows in that time. And with each blow we exchanged, my blood boiled with more and more excitement. A small part of my mind acknowledges that it is most likely the power lust induced by using Primal Aura, but at the moment, I could not be happier.
Throughout training on how to best use Primal Aura, the only thing I had to use it on was the terrain or beasts that were too stupid to run away when a dragon was nearby, and that was no challenge at all. The only other person I could use my Primal Aura on was Professor Sageira, but just as there was nothing much to learn from sparing a person who was too weak, there was little I could learn from someone who could defeat me without breaking so much as a sweat. This knight, on the other hand, was matching me blow for blow, and I felt I had more to give.
I started ramping up the speed and power of my attacks, immediately putting him on the back foot. "What?!" the knight exclaimed as I changed up my attacks, jerking around my spear, making it curve and target other areas of his body. This forced the knight to hop back, opening some space between us. But just as he hopped back, the other knight who destroyed the floor array dashed around our fight and headed for Dad.
I tried to intercept him by swinging my spear but just came up short, and before I could turn around to give chase, my attention was pulled back in by my original opponent as I was forced to sidestep a downward slash that would have bisected if it hit.
Just as I was thinking of a way to disengage and go help Dad, I heard the sound of an impact accompanied by the crunching sound of metal being crushed. A body was sent flying over my head. While it was airborne, the wall arrays decided that the target was enough in the clear to avoid hitting those marked as allies. They bombarded the flying body in midair, sending it in different directions until it smashed into the wall.
When I managed to turn my head slightly for a sneak peek, I saw a fist-clenched arm the size of my whole body sticking out of a growing blob of wood, and at the base of that blob of wood were the two halves of the totem I passed to Dad, and that blob of wood was growing bigger and taking on humanoid features to match the arm that was already grown even as I was looking at it.
***
~Alden Ironcrest's POV~
Alden felt helpless as he saw his son charge headlong into danger and cursed his weakened body and bad timing for a conflict to kick off. But as he saw Luke engage an enemy who had reaped the lives of his soldiers as if they were stalks of grain and treated his knights as if they were children, internally, he was beaming with pride when he saw his son take on the knight currently before them on even footing.
Ever since Luke managed to manipulate mana as a mere toddler, Alden had known his son had the makings of greatness. Even with the mishap of his first timing manifesting his aura that made him unable to off his aura, the fact that he was able to manifest it at the age he did was unheard of. And now, his son was using a technique that had never been battle-tested but was showing great results.
As Alden snapped the totem their draconic benefactor had given them for use in an emergency, he looked at the back of his son as he masterfully wielded his spear, thrusting so fast and in so many bending arcs that every thrust made the afterimages of at least three attacks from different angles.
This lit a fire in Alden's belly. He should be the one protecting his son, but due to his current condition and duty as the fort commander, he had to stay back and stay alive. He promised himself that if he and his son got out of this situation alive, he would redouble his efforts to build and condition his body enough to withstand the manifestation of Primal Aura.
Alden's attention was brought back to the totem in his hands that he snapped in two. Rapidly growing vines grew from the break and joined together to create an increasingly heavy blob of wood that he was eventually forced to drop.
The moment the blob of wood hit the ground with a thud, the knight that tore up the floor array charged past Luke and headed for him.
Seeing the knight charge at him with unnatural speed, even by aura user standards, Alden activated his aura with the knowledge that using aura in his condition was not wise, but a few internal injuries were better than death.
Alden had his sword drawn and was prepared to sell his life dearly when he felt a tug on his mind as he considered how he would defend himself against a vastly stronger opponent. With that thought in mind, Alden felt a faint sensation of… acknowledgement?
As the enemy knight was about to hop over the growing blob of wood to cleave Alden in half, a huge wooden fist sprung out of the wooden blob and caved in the knight's breastplate, sending him flying and getting blasted by the wall arrays.
After that, it took slightly over ten seconds for the wooden blob to grow into a four-meter-tall wooden giant. Its head was full of luminescent green leaves, and vines grew on its face to form a beard that reached down to its chest.
When the wooden giant rose to its full height, it turned to look at Alden as the luminescent leaves on its head started falling to the ground one at a time, and when their eyes met, Alden felt a voice in his head. [Time short. Orders?]
Not wanting to question what manner of magic this was in a time of crisis, Alden pointed to the knight fighting his son and mentally picturing all the invaders, "Destroy the enemy!"